Chaos (world)
Phil R. Zimmermann: "If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy." This recently discovered Quantum 6 world has given both Homeline and Centrum probably more headaches than almost any other parallel. Although its point of divergence dates back very long - about 1200, when Mongol prince Temujin died - states and concepts developed sometimes in surprising parallels. The centuries since then brought the rise and fall of an Anglo-Iberian, a Scandinavian, a French and three Chinese empires, seeing two world-spanning empires become predominant: Russia, and New Rome (founded by Alessandro Napoleoni). Then, the 20th century brought two World Wars, the split of said two great empires, the formation of a multi-continental German empire and a great number of new states, together with the advance of strong Socialist and Fascist movements. Although the new technocratic dictature in Germany tried to get everything under control, the political situation got more and more complicated with every year. The ever-faster changes brought by a further developed computer technology made the people feel even more that they lived in a world ruled by coincidence, and the researchers from Infinity Unlimited thought similarly, thus giving this timeline the name "Chaos". Now, in the year 1993, everything has changed: A coup of hackers cooperating with the Artificial Intelligences they helped to create has united the world. While this seems quite similar to Centrum - a scientific-technical meritocracy that governs a whole planet - there are even more great differences: Other than Centrum, the new government encourages freedom and individuality and even goes so far that it publishes all its data openly for everybody. History Without Genghis Khan The absence of the successful Mongolian hordes meant at first a great advantage for Russia, the Muslim world, and China. But while Imperial China and the Muslim states of Choresm and the Rum-Seljuks finally fell into stagnation (despite obvious successes, like the latter conquering Rome and Vienna, and the former discovering electricity), only Russia really took off. While still split into many principalities (which allowed the Teutonic Order to expand further), with a population never decimated by the Golden Horde, they pressed into Siberia earlier than in Homeline, and settled it fully until the 16th century. Too far away to be controlled by the prince (and later czar) in Vladimir, they successfully fought for independence, which they got in 1632. The new country of Novorussia enjoyed a good relationship with China, from which it received a lot of influence. This helped the new state to reach a high sophistication in many ways, soon even overtaking the old country's. Meanwhile in western Europe Similar to Homeline, two states became predominant: France, which battled England successfully in the three Aquitainian wars; and England, which formed a dynastic union with Castille and also took over Portugal and Scotland, forming the Quadruple Monarchy. Their competition culminated in the Great Occidental War (1523-47), triggered when king Henry V tried to become head of his own church. This distracting struggle allowed the Rum-Seljuks (who never splintered, which had allowed Homeline's rise of the Ottomans) to conquer Austria, Naples and even Rome, after already having conquered Constantinople earlier. North Italy meanwhile had been divided up between Savoy, Venice and Florence (which would become important later), but Germany stayed splintered, weakened by a civil war and hadn't even a predominant state, like Hapsburg Austria in Homeline (the Hapsburgs having lost to a more successful Swiss Confederation). But in the meantime, an important change had been brought to the world by a small state: Denmark. The discovery of Atlantis In 1381, the Danish prince Harald had discovered a great continent in the west, making landfall in Homeline Newfoundland. Without the obvious riches of the Aztecs in sight, colonization went slower, but still happened. Denmark and England were first; France and Spain followed, and even the smaller powers of the Netherlands, Florence, Sweden, Poland and Braunschweig founded their own colonies. During the Occidental War, the Mexica and Tawantinsuyu were drawn into the European network of diplomatics, although they kept their independence; and the landless Scottish prince Alasdair used his fame gained in the New World to retake his country from England and founded a Celtic-Scandinavian empire, albeit shortlived. To absolutism and its fall After the council of Ghent in 1556, the great powers finally started to face the Seljuk threat. Slowly, the Muslims were driven back in Italy and on the Balcans, while North Africa was colonized piece by piece at the same time, and settled by Europeans. Later however, the Triple Monarchy of England-Castille-Portugal fell apart, leaving France as the only major power. The great French kings used the opportunity to have themselves elected Holy Roman Emperor several times, and expanded their influence especially in northern Italy and southern Germany. But resistance started to form. The new Stafford dynasty of England which had won the Civil War rebuilt the country and its colonial empire in South Atlantis, while the Swedish queen Kristina formed an alliance against all-to-mighty king Francois IV. The Anti-French War (1682-94) took France and its allies a notch down, dividing most of French North Atlantis between English Canada, and the German and Italian colonies, which would take off from then. After this great war, the struggle for influence in African and Asian colonial empires went on in the idealistic early 18th century, until the death of the last French king Charles X created a completely new situation. The new republics Since the king had no known issue, the General Estates were called to decide about the situation. After long searches in Atlantis for eventual heirs of the throne, the Estates came to the conclusion that France could do well without a king either. The new republic defeated first its inner opponents and then the various monarchist coalitions that had formed around Britain's reactionary kings. Germany and the Iberian peninsula were conquered and became satellite republics; but especially the latter would create nothing but problems for France. Meanwhile, in the east the republic of Novorussia had expanded into both North Atlantis and Asia, and even absorbed the old mother country of Vladimir-Suzdal. Not wanting to stop there, they used the situation and eventually conquered Finland, Poland and Prussia. And in Atlantis, after the death of the last king of Denmark-Braunschweig, the "schulzen" (mayors) of German-speaking Atlantis also decided to do it the French way and declared themselves independent, without blood having to be shed. Rise of the New Rome Over the centuries, Florence had grown to the medium power of Italy. Now, when republican France distracted the other European powers, the cunning king Gioacchino used the opportunity to pick up French and Spanish colonies in Africa and Atlantis, ostensibly "to protect them". Slowly, Italy became a grand power. Since the king was childless, he adopted his most abled general, Alessandro Napoleoni from Sardinia. The new ruler would bring Italy to the next level, when he added the rest of the Spanish colonies, the Inca lands and Egypt to his empire - for the kingdom Italy now became the New Roman Empire, with himself as the emperor and head of the Imperial Catholic church. Then, in alliance with Germany (which had meanwhile kicked out the French), he also defeated Britain and took their colony of Braseal. Germany would receive Argentine, which now received a lot of immigration, since German Atlantis had already reached the Great Mountains. After the death of Alessandro, the short reign of Benedetto followed. But during his few years he managed to push Russia back in Europe, Atlantis and Asia, and appointed an even more capable successor, Ludovico. Said Ludovico found that the time had come to retake former Roman provinces in Europe too, after France had wasted its strength in eighty years of a guerilla war in Spain. In three wars, France was repeatedly humbled, and the Iberian peninsula formed into a number of satellite kingdoms. Also, he expanded New Rome's influence on the Indian subcontinent. Braseal which had become a penal colony for the empire proved to be uncontrollable however, so it was given independence. The Red threat Lacking a republican interregnum and a Glorious Revolution, the British kings were more powerful and reactionary than in Homeline. When their perpetual wars only proved to empty Britain's coffers and lose its colonies, people got enough, revolted against king Philip and killed him. The royal family fled to New Albion (our New Zealand). The new republican government proved to be very shortlived when they decided to arm factory workers against a royalist uprising, which only lead to a second revolution and the proclamation of the first Socialist state, under the new boss Charles Pounder. The excesses of the revolution put fear in the hearts of businessmen everywhere, especially however in Germany, which now worked hard to suppress Socialist movements everywhere in Europe. For this purpose, they invaded Bohemia and Scandinavia and also France, which was divided between them and New Rome. The Socialists retaliated by attacking "monetarist" ships everywhere on the sea - piracy had returned. World Wars and dictatures When the First World War broke out, the Russian and the New Roman Empires outweighed Germany in both land surface and population. However, when Canadian diplomacy brought in Nippon, China, Siam and Braseal as new allies, their advantage shrunk. And while their almost-monopoly on oil surely had brought the decision in a latter war, Germany's access on coal and steel was more important then. Slowly the German armies proceeded in France, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Nile and Mississippi valleys; mass desertions among the French and uprisings of the Muslims forced the two big Empires to capitulate. After the breakdown of the New Roman Empire, Socialists came to power in both France and Iberia with British help. Soon, the revolutionary wave spread via the German occupation troops into the German home country. 1919, the northwestern Germany seperated together with the Scandinavian republic from the German Empire and joined the Socialist block. Since the war-tired German soldiers didn't want to shoot on their brothers, the German government had to accept the new reality. Atlantean chancellor Kleiber however used the situation to merge the three Germanies in Europe, Atlantis and Argentinien into a unified, truly world-spanning empire, before he died. Thus, the Germans became the first superpower - in a world they soon saw was incontrollable by them. After the harsh peace Germany had imposed on them, Greater Italy and Russia both thirsted for revenge. In the former, the new movement of the "famiglia" (imagine a mixture of the fascists and the mafia) established a dictature with the only aim of a humiliation of Germany, while everything else had to take second priority, while in the latter the new woshdij (leader) Gridenkov had similar aims. Meanwhile, the Germans had to fight with colonial uprisings and a strong Socialist opposition, and changing governments and political scandals. When in 1931 the democratic politicians had proved unable to solve the empire's problems, the leaders of the military and the industry, plus the bureaucracy, decided at the conference of Paulskirchen to putsch and formed a new government, the Technocracy, which immediately started to prepare for World War Two, which came in 1941. Again, Germany prevailed, this time even (almost) without allies (China was busy holding down Nippon, which they had conquered between the wars), but they had to pay a high price. The war took an even higher death toll than the last one, and European Germany was actually occupied before Atlantean troops liberated it again. In the meantime, several million Germans (and Poles, Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians) were displaced to Russia and forced to work there - a dramatic experience, although it created some bounds between Germany and the other peoples. Also, the Technocracy could not prevent the Socialists taking over in post-war (core) Italy. The Cold War Germany had won the war with the help of a new weapon, the nuclear bomb. Before they could use their monopoly, the secret was stolen by Socialist spies, leading to a Cold War with them instead. Since then, the two blocks fought a war of influence in the "chaos" countries of Atlantis, Africa and western Asia, with no clear results. At the same time, they tried to surpass each other with space projects and research about nanotechnology and artificial intelligences. And religious movements like the Irish-Catholic church, the followers of Chandramoorthy and various Muslim groups also tried to get influence. The deciding development came from another place, though. With time, the formerly good relationship between Germany and China had cooled down, when they clashed about some former colonies of Canada, Germany's closest ally. The final blow came in 1993 when a Nipponese terrorist group crashed an airplane on the Summer Palace in Shanghai, killing the emperor. His enraged son demanded Chinese troops being deployed on the Indies where the rest of the group was hiding, which Canada and Germany denied him. Their armies were alarmed, and when two nanoswarms clashed near Kamchatka, the world was close to an apocalypse. Locales The German Empire Once a democratic republic, for some decades Germany was the technocracy. All about ruthless efficiency, the new government pursued a policy of strengthening the state (inside and outside), the military and the economy while being socially conservative. It was decidedly anti-Socialist, even moreso than the democratic Germany. In schools, science and technology were encouraged instead of classics and humanities, and boys were taught shooting. Critics of the system were kept quiet with censorship and house arrest. Europe Stretching from the Upper Rhine to Livonia, from the Baltic Sea to the Adria, European Germany inhabits 85 million citizens and 15 million foreigners (mostly Balcan people, Indians, black Africans and Arabs - Russians and Italians still hesitate to work in the country that destroyed their dreams of greatness). Next to it sit its close allies of Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and the Finnish-Estonian Republic, adding their 75 million citizens and 10 million foreigners to the block in central Europe. The technocratic regime has made sure in the last decades that they toe its line for all important issues; and the mixing of the populations in World War 2 and since then has certainly helped - nowadays members of these nations don't really count as foreigners anymore in Germany. The old Germany suffered much from the loss of one third of its population, half its industry and later the moving of many influential people to German Atlantis. However, under the technocratic regime at least the industry has been rebuilt, mostly in Saxony and Bohemia, forming the new sprawl around the centers of Dresden and Prague, where about one fifth of the European Germans lives. Since the European part of Germany is surrounded by the Socialist Block in the West and the Russian chaos in the East, half of the German army is stationed here and in the occupied areas of Romania, Croatia and the Ukraine. About 10 million Germans have been settled in these lands by the technocratic regime; today, many of them return because they fear rejection by the natives. European Germany is split inside; while the Eastern and Central lands (including said non-German allies) mostly supported the anti-Socialist politics of the central government in Martinsburg, in the "front lands" of Swabia, Hesse and Ostfalen there's a strong minority resisting, and especially in Switzerland people are pretty stubborn and everything but helpful for the government. Atlantis In the area of roughly the northern half of Homeline's continental USA live 175 million citizens and 35 million foreigners (most of them from Roman Atlantis). Since World War I, the areas of Texas and Montana (western Italia Nuova) are occupied by Germany, supposed to take in German settlers. Martinsburg at the Atlantic coast is the political capital (since 1919 of the whole German Empire) and the main contact point for Europe. Wildenhartburg (Chicago) is the industrial center of German Atlantis and was once an important place for the trade with Canada and Italia Nuova. Franzensburg, the most important harbour at the West Coast, is famous for its universities and research facilities (and its strong Logo's community that wrote some of their most important programs and manifests here). Argentinien The last part settled by Europeans, nowadays it has 85 million citizens and 12 million foreigners. Once enjoying the highest standard of living thanks to its natural riches in grain, beef, gold and gems, this part of the Empire somehow missed to keep up with the other parts and thus fell farther and farther back. Hence, it became a stronghold for Racists, Weber (Luddites), Socialists, radical Christians and other opponents of the Technocratic regime. Since these groups tend to neutralize each other, the government wasn't too impressed by this. Some more active and brighter people tried to make a success by bringing the fruits of the new century to its neighbor states like Peru, Aymaria and Braseal. The main exception is the city of Paradies (Rio de Janeiro), center of the German movie industry, and also very popular with the tourists. The Chinese adoptive empire Nippon During the 1920s, China and Nippon clashed over the question what to do with Corea, which they had conquered together in the World War from Russia. At the end, it came to war, which China won with the help of their new weapon, the cruise missile. In 1930, the Nipponese government gave up. However, unrest never could be completely suppressed, and many Nipponese emigrated to other countries, continuing their fight against China from there. Occupied until the end by Chinese troops, Nippon is one of the poorest and least developed countries in Asia, except for the Chaos areas. Mixed with their national pride, this creates a dangerous mix, feeding the terrorist movements. Another factor is the religious difference - China has kept the old religions, but Nippon was christianized by Spanish missionaries in the past. (This influence also caused some other changes - Nipponese in Chaos put the personal name before the family name, and honorifics like "San" are used similarly as Spanish "Don", before the name.) The Socialist Block Set in western Europe (incl. Greece), the Block is home to 290 million comrades. The member nations have retained their independence, with the central government in Brussels caring for defense, (a bit of) diplomacy, espionage, propagating revolutions in the rest of the world, the currency, removing barriers between the nations exchange of ideas and some great prestige projects. Between the two World Wars, the French were said to have the most influence, but since their incorporation into the block, the Italians have become more prevalent, seeing socialism as the best way to get revenge against the Germans. The Block has its own space projects (not always successful) and strong research programs for artificial intelligence and nanotech, in some areas even surpassing the monetarist nations. One of their most important research facility is the famous "House of Tomorrow" in London. Still, the Block has problems with discontent people, pollution, and the lack of some natural resources. Note: "Communism" in Chaos is used only for the workers' utopia that is theoretically somewhen to be achieved. The usually used term, whether by friends or by enemies, is "Socialism". Colorful Socialism Very different from Homeline, the Socialist Block never was steered from a single nation. Even when Britain was the only socialist state in the world, people in other countries tended to make up their own version of Socialism. In Britain, the organisations have the power - the unions of the factory workers, the old artisan guilds, the farmer's alliances, the army and, independently, the navy, inclduing the Red Pirates. In France, the different socialist parties soon merged after coming to power, which gave them a lot of influence, even outside their own nations. The Iberian states are governed by a coalition of Socialists, Anarchists, Syndicalists, left republicans and some regional parties. The Scandinavian and Dutch Socialists are said to be especially idealistic and have many projects to improve the lot of the working class, like their education and fighting drugs. The German part under the OPK (Oberster Politischer Kommissar) has occupation troops from the other Socialist nations, to be able to defend against the Technocracy - and also, because the other nations don't trust the Germans completely, since the revolution wasn't successful in the whole country. Italy could draw on the talents of its political class and at the end even took over the inofficial leadership from France. Greece has built up a small pirate fleet in the Mediterranean, following the British example. The Red Pirates In the 19th century, after the monetarist nations had managed to produce industrial products on the level and beyond of Britain, which had been leading in the world until then, Britain started to suffer a trade deficit. Rather than admit that Socialism was a mistake, they turned to piracy. The navy, until then idle, and some fishermen manned ships and started to rob ships of other nations. Despite Germany and New Rome fighting back, the Red Piracy flourished and helped the state to survive through difficult times. After World War One, the crews were joined by various Scandinavians, Dutch, Germans, Frenchmen and Iberians, and the piracy expanded further, helped by the chaos created by New Rome's split-up. The pirates work together especially close with Aymaria and Tir Tairngire, and additionally have bribed enough officials in Africa and Roman Atlantis to get the support they need. Since the 1930s, various Nipponese also have turned to politically motivated piracy. Based mostly in the Indies, they attack all Chinese (and sometimes other) ships they can find. The big difference, however: While the Socialists try to get ransom for people they catch (if they're rich) or convert them for their case (if they're poor), the Nipponese will use their hostage to put pressure on the Chinese government; more radical groups simply kill all the Chinese they can find. The Logo's world state The Logos rule a world population of about 5.5 billions - a bit lower than in Homeline at the same time. The CR is now at 2, a great difference for the people who were used to CRs of 4 or 5. Most taxes and other dues were abolished, except those on speculative profits (a world state can do effective controls), nanofactories, legal drugs and pollution. Working week is down to 20 hours; people who live on welfare have to go to courses, though. Government, bureaucracy and the justice system still exists, but they have become "gläsern" (made of glass): All people can check easily what kind of data are stored about them. Chaos Chaos is the term mostly used for the equivalent of the Third World in the Chaos timeline. It implies that in this part of the world, borders of nations change every few years and governments every few months - hence, most people don't care to keep track. The term came up for the first time in a German-Atlantean newspaper in november 1914, mentioning the "southern chaos", referring to the many new nations founded in Roman Atlantis between German Atlantis and Argentinien after the breakup of New Rome, following the end of World War I. 1929, with the gradual independence for India, politicians started to speak of the "Indian chaos", and after World War II, in April 1947, German general and technocrat Pistor stated in the famous "Chaos speech" that most of the world had fallen into, well, chaos. Atlantean Chaos The remains of the New Roman empire in the new world. Three states are Italian-speaking (New Italy, reaching from Homeline Virgina to the Rockies, and two states in the Andes), the rest has French or Spanish as their first language. Germany has occupied strategically important places, like some Caribbean islands and the Nicaragua canal. Since this area is Germany's backyard, the chaos is kept somewhat more under control than elsewhere, if only for self-interest. Russian / Eastern European Chaos Near Eastern Chaos Indian Chaos African Chaos Technology and Society Science mainly diverged by the use of electricity - the Chinese used batteries for electroplating as early as in medieval times, the Russians invented the telegraph and started a revolution of communication in the 18th century, and during the 20th century, better computers allowed the development of a true AI. At the present, tech level is at 9, with computers even at 10. Transportation Germany, China and to some extent the Socialist Block have built "vactrains" in the last decades - maglev trains running through vacuumed tubes under the earth. Said vactrains can reach sheer unbelievable velocities of up to 10000 kmh, beating even airplanes. The Logo government now works on filling the gaps in the network (along the border between Germany and the former Block) and even have the ambitious plan to build a tunnel below the Atlantic, to connect Europe with Atlantis. The chaos was not so lucky and still has to rely on more old-fashioned trains, planes, cars and ships - or even worse. Germany and China have sent men successfully to Mars, and both of them and the Socialist Block maintain a permanently manned space station. The Logos are VERY interested in this area and plan building a space elevator and an expedition to the planetoid belt, for a start... Computers, Networks and AIs Originally, computers were relatively simple mechanical machines, as in Homeline. Thanks to the developments in electricity, better solutions soon appeared however. The first computer networks (referred to as systems) were invented in the 1920s in Germany at the firm Werstand, and the other important nations soon copied it. After the second World War, Germany enforced the uniting of the national networks, forming the Weltsystem, the internet of Chaos. Various parts of Artificial Intelligence, like automatical translation and neural networks were invented; and in 1969, three students at Franzensburg found a way to unify different programs to form a true AI. With computers becoming better and better, artificial intelligences became more and more common - not without ramifications of the society. After the Streich, they're accepted as full citizens and help the Logos run the world. Medicine and Genetics Nanotech Outtime Penetration The Infinity Patrol Homeline National Governments Characters Typical Character Types "Native" character types of Chaos are: Logo (Hacker) Menschenhelfer (Humanity's Helper) Ex-Leader Weber (Luddite) Irish missionary Märchenwelt-Fan Illogo (Cracker) Bolzer (Gang member) Robots KI (AI) Non-Player Characters Advantages Legal Enforcement Powers Local police units have the 5 CP version; criminal police has 10 CP. However, they both have to take the disadvantage "Duty: Publish all the data you collect". Today, the police uses robots for patrols, too. The WSW (Weltsystemwache - World System Watch) operates world-wide and has the right to "kill" programs and AIs that are out of control; however, since they don't count as humans (yet?), this is also a 10 CP advantage. Every logo who thinks he's good enough can participate in the WSW. A neural interface is almost obligatory. Disadvantages Duty "Das gläserne System" (the transparent system) enforced by the Logos demands from every important organization (firms, banks, media, bureaucracy, justice) that they publish all the data they collect (about people outside the organization), so that everybody is able to know what others know about him. In the same way, all authorities have to publish everything they know (and think) about their underlings. -10 CP. The only (partly) exception is the police: They don't need to publish data about a suspect until he has been before a court (whether he's condemned or acquitted). -5 CP. Skills Languages New skills Economics, Jobs and Wealth Currency and Prices The Logos' Government introduced a new currency, the GEM (Geldeinheit der Menschheit Currency Unit) that replaced the old currencies, like the German Thaler, the Canadian Dollar, the Chinese Wén, the Judean Shekel, the Brasealean Real and the Euro-Pound (of the Socialist Block). It is as usually represented by a $ sign. 1000 Thaler = 2000 Dollar = 800 Wén = 3000 Shekel = 1200 Real = 125 Pound (black market: 700) = 60000 GEM Generally: Natural food, human work and everything which needs complicated, individually tailored software is expensive, everything else cheap or very cheap. Characters from Chaos have a starting wealth of $ 500,000. As usually, you should use only 20 % of this wealth for "adventuring" equipment. * Pizza, softdrink and snacks - 200 $ * Banquet (per Person) - 2,500 $ * Ticket for robot fight - 1,000 $ * Middle class car (self-driving) - 500,000 $ * Flying car - 1,000,000 $ * High-End PC (Complexity 4) - 40,000 $ * Multi-communicator (automatical translator) - 4,000 $ * Flight Vancouver-Hawaii/Rainbow Islands (tourist class) - 20,000 $ * "Heinzel" (household robot) - 150,000 $ or 5,000 $ / month * Nanotech factory (without software) - 20,000,000 $ * Organizer (handheld computer, working as a personal agent) - 6,000 $ * Personal Märchenwelt - 400,000 $ * VR sex - 2,000 $ Social Status and Cost of Living Job Table Weaponry How to be Logo/German/Chinese Chaos' World of the Mind Campaigning in Chaos An Infinity Unlimited Campaign would either be a "war of influence" between Infinity and Centrum, while both dodging constantly from the incalculable Logos, or could take place just before the almost-loss of the Secret. Maybe the PCs do better, maybe not... A purely Chaos-based campaign will tend to Cyberpunk, either during or before the Logos' Coup, like chasing amuck running KIs or viruses built by Illogos with the WSW through the Weltsystem - or maybe Steampunk in Socialist England. If you let your campaign play before the Coup, you could also have an adventure in Nippon or Africa, taking either the side of the Germans/Chinese or the natives fighting against them. The sooner history of Chaos also leaves many opportunities: Try a swashbuckling campaign in the early Atlantis, or in North Africa (before their conquest), or even in modern times - with the British or the Nipponese as protagonists. A western (Germans-and-Indians) is also possible. So are war-based campaigns: Try Russia against the Muslims, or a New Roman army fighting on four continents, or the Canadians exploring and colonizing the Pacific. Last but not least, there's the possibility that somebody influenced the history of Chaos from the background: Are the Illuminati standing behind the uprise of Germany, or Novorussia, the New Romans or the Logos? Diverse stuff (If this was a book or magazine article, I'd put this stuff on the sidebars.) Other Genghis-less worlds Canada and the Commonwealth Braseal Greater Judea Tirland Aymaria The empty circle Werstand Maffeo Servitore Alfred Kleiber Chandramoorthy Sophie Stein In 1910, the owner of a small, not-too-well doing antique shop in Marseille and a teacher for mathematics had a daughter, who got the name of Shayna Löwenpferd. When France became Socialist after WW1, the family had to suffer under the new regime, so Shayna fled to Italy, only to see the country fall to the Socialists after the second World War. So she went to Technocratic Germany, where she changed her name to Sophie Stein, as who she'd become famous. Having become a radical anti-Socialist, and an admirer of Aristotle, she created the philosophy of Veritism, the equivalent of Homeline's objectivism. Even average people know her as the originator of phrases as "All the ill in the world comes from empty promises" (often shortened to "No empty promises!") and "No theory, no ideology, and no religion is greater than the Truth!" Her radical pro-Technocrat, anti-Socialist articles in newspapers and the radio were exactly of the kind that made Socialists foam at the mouth. Ironically, she had more things in common with the Socialists than she would ever have admitted - the way she glorified the heavy industry, and railroads, cars and planes in her stories, how she believed in scientific and technical progress, her compromiseless fanaticism, and her general lack of humor. At the end however, she became more and more radical, until the point where she considered Christianity as a fertile ground for Socialism. Still, until the present, she has many fans, many of them in influential positions. The history of the Chaos TL 1200: Temujin aka Genghis Khan dies from an accident. His hordes fall apart again. 1210: Ogadai Khan reunites the steppe people, less successful than his father however. 1230-32: Ogadai fights the Hsi-Hsia. 1236: Choresmian Shah Jalal-ad-Din topples the last Abbasid caliph, replaces him by a puppet. 1238: Russian prince Aleksandr Yaroslavich (Homeline Nevsky) goes to Vladimir-Suzdal to fight the Volga Bulgars. 1240: Ogadai attacks Choresm, is stopped by Jalal-ad-Din, dies soon after. Volga Hungarians settle in Hungary proper. 1253: Bohemia and Moravia divided between Ottokar Przemysl and his surviving brother. 1273: Ottokar Przemysl elected king of the HRE, keeps Austria. 1276: Constantinople reconquered by Nikaia from the crusaders. 1289: Lithuania subjugated and administered by the Teutonic knights. 1306: Szechuan secedes from Song China, the first kingdom to do so. 1315: Teutonic Order starts to conquer, annex and germanize the western Russian princedoms. 1315, 1346, 1368, 1383, 1394: Famines in western Europe. Poor people start uprisings, which will lead to the shortlived Beggars' republics of Parma and Utrecht. 1327: Rum-Seljuks take Constantinople. Many Greeks flee to Italy, kickstarting the ''Rinascita ''(Renaissance). 1337-1402: Black Death sweeps through Eurasia (it takes much longer for the lack of a wide-spanned Mongol empire without internal borders). 1341: Breton war of Succession begins, which leads to the First Aquitainian war, that will include England, France and Flanders. 1348-57: Temporary division of the Rum-Seljuk empire. 1352: Castille conquers Granada. 1355-92: Hong kingdom reunites China, starts the dynasty with the same name. 1370-89: Ariq-Buqa, a new leader of the steppe people wreaks havoc in Central Asia. 1381: Danish prince Harald "discovers" Atlantis. 1384: Chinese discover galvanization by chance. 1385: First Aquitainian war ends. France cedes Gascony to England, Artois to Flanders. 1400-02: First voyage of Chinese Treasure Ships. 1401-07: Great Reform council of Geneva. 1404: Poland attacks the Teutonic Order, wins the first Teutonic-Polish war; Pommerellen (with access to the sea) becomes Polish. 1407: Maffeo Servitore, a cunning Florentine diplomat devises a plan. Meeting with the rulers of Savoy and Venice, all of Northern Italy except Genoa is divided into spheres of influences, which said three states may conquer. This happens until the 1430s. 1413-22: Vladimir-Suzdal wants to solve the Russian schism by war, but Kiev and Chernigov ally with Novgorod and Smolensk against it, and manage to win. Vladimir-Suzdal has to acknowledge the patriarch of Kiev as leader of the Orthodox church again. The schism is thus ended. 1414-18: A Seljuk-Barbary fleet crosses the Adria, fights Naples and Aragon, keeps Taranto and Bari. 1417: Holy Roman Emperor Gerhard II (who already owns Jutland as a fief) takes power in Denmark. 1421: Deccan Sultanate becomes independent from Delhi Sultanate. 1424: King Pedro interfere in the Portuguese Civil War, becomes its king. 1425-36: The Great Napolitan War. Naples conquered by Seljuks. 1430: Emperor Gerhard dies. His lands are divided: His older son Gerhard becomes king of the Netherlands and Roman king, Heinrich becomes king of Denmark. To get rid of the mighty nobles in Castille, king Pedro III tells them to go on a crusade to Morocco, which is subjugated during the next 20 years. 1445: The Holy Cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, accept the Rum-Seljuk sultan as Caliph. 1452-56: A Chinese treasure fleet sails up the Red Sea, sends a delegation to Egypt. On their return, they also spread tales about the Christian countries. 1460: The ambitious duke Bernhard I of Braunschweig-Lueneburg, who inherited most lands of the Welfs, founds a colony in Atlantis at the site of Homeline Philadelphia, called Martinsburg. Settlers from Vladimir-Suzdal go to Novorossiya (New Russia; Homeline Siberia), those from Kiev and the South in general into Homeline Ukraine. 1466: The infamous Sacco di Roma happens. 1468: First Florentine caravel crosses the Atlantic. They discover the Potomac, and since the area is yet unclaimed by Sweden, they claim it for Florence. 1475-95: When king Heinrich secularizes and annexes the bistums of Augsburg and Trient for his lands, the HRE falls into a kind of Civil War. All the princes try to annex the clerical lands, which leads to lots of confusion and little wars for said lands, which are subsumed as the Twenty-Year War. The most important of those wars are the Bavarian-Austrian war for Salzburg (1485-93) and the French-Dutch war (1486-91). For some time, there are three kings in the Empire. In the bisthums of Wuerzburg and Muenster, millenialist sects take the power, declare the Gottesfreistaat (God's republic - another kind of theocracy). 1477-83: Third Aquitainian War, which ends with Aquitaine finally becoming French. 1481: Printing press with movable letters invented in the free city of Cologne by Jakob Hahn. 1483: Seljuk-Hong war about piracy. 1487: English take Scottish capital of Perth; king David and his three sons have to flee to Norway. The Shetland and Orkney islands become English, too. 1497: King Pedro IV dies without heir; Castille-Portugal is united with England-Scotland, forming the Quadruple Monarchy. 1505-09: Austrian War. Seljuks invade Austria, take Vienna. 1510-56: Occidental schism: Quadruple monarchy breaks away from Catholicism temporarily. At the council of Ghent, they are reconciled. 1511: Francois, the Regent for his nephew, French king Charles VIII, elected Roman king (as Franz I), founds the "Alliance des Alpes / Alpenbund" with Venice, Bavaria and Wuerttemberg-Carinthia, which is mainly directed against the Seljuks. 1512-17: Novgorodian War. Vladimir-Suzdal defeats the old competitor, annexes it. 1516-18: Seljuks invade Florence, but don't manage to take the new "Italian fortresses". 1521: The only surviving heir of the Norwegian (and Scottish) throne, Prince Alasdair / Alexander goes to Atlantis, where he spends some time around the Caribbean. He also approaches the Tenochca and learns about their gold riches. 1522: Prince Alasdair comes to the court of France, warns the king that the Quadruple monarchy is about to conquer the rich lands of the Tenochca. He points out: "If the king owns their gold, he can afford to hire all the mercenaries in the world! You have to stop him now!" 1523-47: Great Occidental War. The Quadruple Monarchy fights against France, Aragon, the HRE and the Tenochca. 1547: Peace of Barcelona. The Quadruple Monarchy has to cede Murcia to Aragon, and accept the independence of Scotland-Ireland under Alasdair / Alexander IV in Europe, and of the Mexica and Inca people in Atlantis (who have to convert to Christianity, though, since the pope insists). Plus, they have to pay several tons of gold. 1548: A Russian delegation is received at the court in Nanjing. 1549: French monks arrive in the Inca Empire to convert the population to Christianity. 1570s: In Florence, the influx of Southern Italians leads to the rich merchants being questioned about their lifestyle. In reaction, the Matthewan movement starts, which defends their wealth. 1571: With the help of his French advisors, Inca ruler Sayri Tupaq manages to stabilize his rule in the center of the old empire. 1574: Scandinavians found the colony of Australafrica (Australia for short) with the capital Alexandersborg (Homeline Cape Town). In the Peace of Krems (Austria), Seljuks have to cede Dalmatia to Venice, the county of Naples to Florence, Salzburg to Bavaria, Austria to Wuerttemberg-Carinthia and western Hungary to France. Francois of Bourbon elected new king of Hungary. 1588: Death of Alasdair. His vast lands are divided: Scotland and Ireland go to his elder son Alexander, Scandinavia to his younger son Christian / Kristian. 1597: Axayacatl II of Mexico starts to expand the Mexica Empire after long time again. 1602: Grand Prince Pyotr of Vladimir crowned first Czar of Vladimir-Suzdal. 1607: The Sixtine calendar (equivalent to Homeline Gregorian Calendar) is introduced in Western / Central Europe. 1617-32: Novorussian War of Independence. When Kiev-Chernigov supports them, Vladimir has to accept that they leave. The republic of Novorossiya is founded. Capital becomes Yeniseisk. 1628: Castillians and Portuguese start rebelling against king Henry, who proves unable to defeat them. The monarchy of England-Castille-Portugal falls apart. 1630s: Swedes visit and learn about the various kingdoms in SE Asia and the Indies. 1633: Uprisings against king Henry VI start. Begin of the English Civil War (ECW), also called, after the leaders of the most important groups, the Staffords and the Cliffords, "War of the 'fords". 1637: Dissenter's revolt in New England. Braunschweig-Denmark becomes protector of the Commonwealth of New England. 1638: Constitution of Novorossiya. 1639: Maria, the princess of Spain and future queen (her father Alfonso XII has no son) marries the king of Morocco, thus reuniting the realms. 1639-57: Alejandro Enrique Ruiz Rodriguez writes his "Bible plays". 1644: Novorossiya claims Alyeska. 1647: The Duke of Stafford becomes new king Humphrey I of England, after defeating and killing his opponent, William of Clifford. Novorossiyan republic makes a contract with the Hong empire to fight the people north of the Chinese Wall. 1659: England founds Stafford City at the site of Homeline Recife, (re-)starting the colonization of Braseal and Argentine. 1667: Florence makes a dynastical marriage with Sicily, which eventually leads to their unification. 1669: At Homeline San Francisco Bay, Novorussians clash with Spain. 1677-82: Inca defeat Aymara, reconquer the former South of their empire, stretching to Chile / Argentine now. 1678-84: Novorossiya conquers the Jurchen (Manchu). 1682-94: Anti-French War. Spain, England, Sicily, Netherlands, the Baltic League (Sweden, several German states) unite against France and its allies Hungary, Poland, Wuerttemberg-Austria, Nassau, Savoy, Venice, Denmark-Braunschweig, Scotland and Portugal. Many areas in northern, western and southern Germany devastated, as are in Poland. 1694: Peace of Amsterdam. France has to give up its allies: Denmark's Norway becomes Swedish (although Braunschweig may keep Schleswig and Holstein), Portugal Spanish, Scotland English. In Atlantis, Caroline and eastern New France (Homeline Hispaniola) become Spanish, Quebec (Homeline Ontario) English, Louisiana north of the Arkansas is divided between Italy (the South) and Denmark-Braunschweig (the North). Prince-Haralds-Land (Homeline Newfoundland) is ceded by the latter to England. The Pyrenees become the new French-Spanish border. Luxembourg-Lorraine is given back to Charles XI of Brabant-Limburg. Baden is restored. Switzerland receives the lands lost too, but has to promise neutrality. Milan, Ravenna and Genoa become Italian, to drive a wedge between Savoy and Venice. Flanders, Hennegau / Hainaut become Dutch again. Karl II of Wuerttemberg-Austria deposed, Eberhard X becomes new grand duke, together with his brother Ludwig V. The Alliance des Alpes is dissolved. The Mexican Empire becomes a Spanish colony. 1703: Council of Cork ends again with a compromise. The Catholic church stays formally united, but the pope has become a mere figurehead. 1704: English ships go west from Cape Hoorn, discover Antipodia and New Albion (Australia and New Zealand). 1706-14: War of the Germans against the Five Nations. 1707: Champa (S Vietnam) stops paying tribute to Hong, with impunity. The example is soon followed. 1708-15: Italian-Russian-Seljuk War. Italy finally throws the Seljuks out of their peninsula, Russians takes Crimea. 1731: France founds the Indochinese League with Bengal, Pegu, Thailand, Khmer, Champa and Melaka. The first commercial telegraph line is made in Novorossiya. This starts the "revolution of communication". 1738: King Francois VI of France manages to smuggle pope Innocent from Rome to Avignon. The Italian king protests, but can't change it. 1749: Charles X dies too without heir. France calls the General Estates (300 men for every estate) to decide who'll become next king, since the successor situation is unclear. 1756: Spain allies with Nippon against Novorossiya and Corea, starts converting the Nipponese and modernizing their army. 1758: "Young Seljuks" topple the sultan Süleyman VIII, make new sultan Kay Khusrau X create a constitution, which introduces a kind of a parliament (all adult educated male Muslims may elect representatives). 1763: After long fruitless search for a heir of the French crown, the Estates decide to give France a constitution and make free elections. The reactionary nobles oppose this. 1764-67: French Civil War. 1768-72: First French Republican War against Spain, Britain, Savoy, Germany and Hungary. France wins, annexes the Rhineland. 1769: King Francesco III occupies the valuable Caribbean colony Nouvelle France (Homeline Haiti) for Italy, the first of many to follow. 1770-79: Russian Civil War. Novorossiya and Kiev-Chernigov defeat Vladimir-Suzdal, send the Czar to exile, divide Vladimir between them. 1779-99: After a crisis in France, general Boulanger gets dictatorial powers, which he'll put down later (deliberately!) when the crisis is solved. 1779-84: Second French Republican War. HRE dissolved, replaced by French satellite republics. 1789: General Lin Xiaolong ("Little Dragon"), commander of the troops in the province of Peking, declares himself new emperor. 1791-93: Third French Republican War. Denmark-Braunschweig disappears as a state. 1795: The "Schulzenaufstand" (Mayors' Uprising) in German Atlantis. After the end of Denmark-Braunschweig as a state, they declare independence, form a confederation similar to Switzerland. 1800: Hong emperor flees to Tungning (Homeline Taiwan), which is governed together with the Philippines by him - the rest of his empire. Since he takes most of the navy with him, Lin Xiaolong can't do anything. Lin Xiaolong starts the new dynasty Ming ("brightness"), takes the throne name Yongzhi, "Everlasting Wisdom". 1813-22: Canadian Revolutionary War. 1818-20: Italy conquers Egypt, which is done by general Alessandro Napoleoni from Sardinia. 1818: Successful German uprising against France, which has to leave them alone. 1823: Alessandro Napoleoni who was appointed successor of king Gioacchino, declares himself New Roman emperor. 1824: Imperial-Catholic church founded. 1828-34: After a payment of tribute was missed, Novorossiya conquers and subjugates Choresm. 1832-36: Anti-British War of allied New Rome, Germany, German Atlantis and Canada. Unexpectedly, the Imperial Navy proves to be stronger than the Royal Navy, thanks to the numerous fights against Spanish Navy-in-exile. In the peace of Roma Nuova, Britain has to cede Newfoundland to Canada and its lands in South Atlantis, which are divided along the Tropic of Capricorn: Braseal goes to New Rome, the Germans receive Argentine as a place for settlement (from now on, more often called Argentinien). Patagonia, being uninteresting for the victors, becomes independent Aymaria. 1835: After anti-Jewish pogroms in North Africa, a delegation of rabbis approaches the emperor. He offers the Jews a home at the Sinai. 1838: English revolution, king Philip killed. Revolutionaries declare the British republic. Royal family flees to New Albion, as does the pope. 1841: Second English revolution. After the defeat of the royalist admiral Carleton, Socialist leader and former bartender Charles Pounder takes power in London, declares the "People's State of England". 1845/46: Mexico conquered by New Rome, which now governs all of Atlantis except for Canada and the lands of the Germans and Russians. 1847: Emperor Alessandro dies, having appointed the governor of Milan successor, who becomes emperor Benedetto. 1848-52: Allied Germanies, Sweden, Canada, Seljuks and New Rome fight Anti-Russian War. In the peace of Constantinople, Prussia becomes German. Poland, Greater Bohemia and Hungary leave the Russian sphere of influence. Seljuks take Pontus and Thrace back. The thinly settled hinterland of Russian Atlantis goes to Canada (which gains access to the Pacific) and German Atlantis, the Great Desert (the lands between Snake river, Colorado river, Sierra Nevada and Rockies - about Homeline Utah and Nevada) to New Rome. Finland and Estonia become Swedish again. 1849: Potato crisis in Ireland. Many of them emigrate to Antipodia, which population more than doubles in short time. 1850: Irish rebel in Antipodia, kick out the English, who only keep control of Homeline Tasmania. The continent is renamed Tir Tairngire. Second half of 19th century: The "Society of Brotherly Love" (influenced by Russian Orthodox missionaries) rages throughout China, trying to build a millenialist kingdom, causing havoc everywhere. 1856: Patricius I, first Irish-Catholic pope elected in Antipodia. 1857: Young Tom Liverpool (an orphan) invents a primitive telephone in Socialist Britain. 1869: Guru Chandramoorthy born in Puducherry. 1870: Braseal (used by New Rome as an exile colony for all kinds of resistors - Italian republicans, French and Spanish monarchists and nationalists, Inca nobles, anti-Imperial Catholics and other Christian minorities, Arab and Berb resistors, ordinary criminals, separatists of all kinds, defeated Indians) rises against New Roman Empire. Emperor Ludovico decides to grant them independence, and they go in peace. 1873: A French man named Louis Philippe (in Braseal French: Lui Filip) in New London (later called Novolondon - Homeline Salvador) who claims to be the heir of the French and Spanish royal families and can even present some of the (real!) French and Spanish crown jewels is declared king/emperor of Braseal, although his followers only control parts of the later capital. 1876-80: When Vijayanagar falls into Civil War, New Rome interferes, brings the subcontinent under its control. 1879: Germany invades Socialist Scandinavia, makes it a satellite. 1880-94: Starting in the province of Anhui, a Chinese general starts to reunite the country and defeat the Society of Brotherly Love. 1888: Lui Filip has all of Braseal under his control. 1889/90: Socialists take power in Paris and other industrial cities of the French republic. Weak French military unable to suppress them. Germany and New Rome ally against them, invade and divide France. 1897-1900: Civil War in Braseal about the slavery question. 1906: Great Earthquake in Novorossisk (Homeline San Francisco). The shrewd Kanzler of German Atlantis, Alfred Kleiber, sends troops to "restore order" and "build up the destroyed city", effectively making the republic a satellite. 1910, July 16th: Emperor Ludovico dies, the New Roman empire is shook up. 1911-16: World War One. 1914: New Rome is falling apart, makes peace with Germany. Texas, parts of India, Egypt, the Caribbean islands and other important places are occupied by Germany and its allies. France becomes independent again, as do many other parts of the New Roman empire; only the Italian-speaking core (Italy proper, Tunisia+Libya, Italia Nuova and the Andes) remains. Many new states emerge; chaos ensues. 1915: Socialists send troops to France. Judea fights Syria. 1916: The Russias make peace with Germany. Choresm becomes independent again; Russia leaves Persia and China. Most of Ukraine occupied by Germany; Balcan states become German satellites. 1918: Uprisings in the Ruhr area; Socialists invade to help them; Germany unable to stop them, has to give up the whole NW Germany. Alfred Kleiber, chancellor of German Atlantis, suggests to unify all the German states. 1919: The Germanies officially unite. Alfred Kleiber dies. The Socialist nations (Britain, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, France, NW Germany) form the Socialist Block. Judea wins the war with Syria. 1920: War veteran Gridenkov founds the "Unionist Party" in Voronezh, aiming at a unification of the two Russias, which the Germans have forbidden. In New Rome / Greater Italy, the "famiglia" (imagine a mixture of the fascists and the mafia, backed by the Imperial-Catholic church) starts to take power. 1921: War between China and Nippon breaks out. Canada reforms its colonial empire into a "commonwealth". 1923: German electronics firm Werstand develops the first primitive computer network. 1926: Gridenkov forced to go into "exile" in Novorossiya, joins the Reconstruction Party. Socialists invade Iberia. 1929: All of Iberia except German-backed Andalusia under Socialist control. Germany gives the Sikhs in India independence - the first of many other states on the subcontinent. 1930: Nippon capitulates, accepts Chinese occupation. Many Nipponese start to emigrate. 1931: Elections in Germany result in a deadlocked parliament. The leaders of the military, the industry and the bureaucracy decide to take over, make Germany the "technocracy". Democracy and several basic rights are suspended, leaders of left-wing parties arrested or put under house arrest. 1932: Gridenkov enters a coalition government in Novorussia. 1933: Assassins murder Novorussian president Alexeyev. Vice president and police minister Gridenkov takes over, suspends the constitution. 1934: Italy starts covert rearmament with the help of Russia. 1937: The democratic Canadian government is toppled and replaced by a technocratic government. Now Judea is the only important democratic state on Earth. 1940: One million Russian soldiers transported to New Italy. Novorussia and southern Russia unite. Germany starts mobilization. 1941: Russia and Greater Italy strike against Germany, which has to fight alone. Russian and Italian troops manage to connect, cut off European Germany from the rest of the world. In Atlantis, the Italians in occupied areas successfully rise against the Germans. Russia and Greater Italy try to get control of the lost parts of their empires, not without success. 1942: European Germany capitulates. Russia invades Choresm again. Germany fights its opponents in Kurdistan, Egypt and Morocco. 1943: Tide of war turns for the Germans in Atlantis. Russia fights Germany in Mesopotamia and Persia. 1944: New Italy capitulates. Russia however made advances, fights in the Indus valley. Then, on June 26th, Germany drops the first nuclear bomb on Verona. Greater Italy has to capitulate. Germany also starts to push back Russians. 1945: European Germany and Poland liberated. Several Russian cities nuked. On July 9th, Gridenkov who has become insane is toppled by his generals. Fighting with his loyalists continues, however. Sophie Stein moves to Germany. 1946: War in Russia declared over. Socialist Block manages to take over Italy. Otherwise, Germany restitutes its influence in the western half of the world. 1952: Surprisingly, the Socialist Block launches the first artificial satellite from Sicily. Chandramoorthy dies. 1953: Germany starts the first satellite. 1956: Socialist agents manage to kill the whole royal family of Braseal. Germany sends troops to establish a new, "synarchist" regime. 1962: German astronauts set foot on the moon. 1969: At the university of Franzensburg (OTL San Francisco), three computer science students start working on the first real AI. 1972: Twenty years after Chandramoorthy's death, his followers manage to take power in Puducherry. 1974: Surprisingly, the Socialists manage to take power in Greece, which immediately declares to join the Socialist Block. 1975: Germany launches its permanently manned space station, called Deutschland. 1977: The Chinese emperor founds the first university dedicated alone to nanotechnology. 1980: The Block finally launches its permanently manned space station, called Socialism. 1981: Technical laboratories of Milan develop the "Zanzara" - artificial insects, which are used to spy in Germany. 1982: Germany sends the first astronauts to Mars. 1986: A referendum on OTL Philippines takes place, to decide whether to stay in the Canadian Commonwealth or reunite with China. The pro-Chinese groups expect an overwhelming victory, but fail to get the needed two-thirds majority. It is generally assumed that the technocrats rigged the (electronic) vote. 1990: China and Germany sign the VAR (Vertrag zur Abrüstung der Raketenarsenale - treaty about disarmament of rocket arsenals), starting to scrap their nuclear weapons. However, their nanotech weapons are far more potent by now. San Raiden Akiyama founds a new resistance group among the Nipponese in the Indies. 1993: On July 13th, Akiyama's group kidnaps a plane which crashes into the Summer Palace in Shanghai and kills the emperor. China is furious and demands that Chinese troops may enter the Indies and search for terrorists. Canada declines, is supported by Germany. In the following days, nanoswarms are mobilized on both sides. on July 20th, a clash in Kamchatka happens. War is narrowly averted. Logos interfere, take power. 1994: The present. First visit from Homeline. Links Links to the AH.com forum * Timeline * Stories * Scenario * alternate PODs (as ideas for starting other ATLs from TTL) * version 0.0 of the TL, far less sophisticated, although sharing some elements. Other links on the net * Chaos TL on the althistory wikia * Entry on TV Tropes * Wiki entry on the AH.com wiki Literature Category:Infinite Worlds